Megha Engg completes 10 km tunnelling in Char Dham project

Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL) has completed 10 km of the 19 km tunnel works, along with 19 cross passages, in Package-7B of the Char Dham Railway Tunnel project in Uttarakhand. The company is excavating and drilling the tunnel with advanced NATM technology. The tunnel works are ongoing at an altitude of 2,250 ft above sea level in the eastern Himalaya. Despite heavy rainfall, landslides, floods, hard rock formations and topographic challenges, this arduous task was achieved in just 18 months, thanks to the 1,000-strong workforce working day and night, the company said. Rail Vikas Nigam Limited RVNL has praised the MEIL for carrying out speedy works and named the company as the best contractor for the Char Dham Project. Srinadh Reddy, MEIL’s project in charge of the Char Dham Railway Tunnel project, said, “We are working round the clock with RVNL officials to complete this project on time.” The 125.20-km-long Rishikesh-Karnaprayag Railway Tunnel project in Uttarkhand is a single-track broad gauge railway line with 12 stations. It is divided into nine packages, and the MEIL is executing two packages, 7B and 8. The MEIL has taken enormous safety measures for the workforce in the execution of tunnel project in both packages. In 2020 the RVNL called for tenders to construct the 125.20 km single-track railway line Rishikesh-Karnaprayag Railway Tunnel project in Uttarkhand. The project is considered nationally strategic and is tracked on the Central Government’s PRAGATI (Pro-active Governance and Timely Implementation) portal. See also: The construction of 1,000km rail work is in progress: PM Modi Railway to replace conventional coaches for zero casualties in derailments